Shopping carts are commonly used in retail establishments to transport groceries and other items from shelves or other storage or display facilities to a checkout counter and from the establishment to a transporting vehicle. A typical conventional shopping cart includes a wheeled frame on which is provided a typically metal basket. A handle extends from one end of the basket to enable a user to push the shopping cart throughout the establishment. An infant seat may be recessed in the basket adjacent to the handle to support a toddler or small child during shopping.
During shopping, groceries or other items such as hardware are placed in the basket. A user typically grips the handle on the basket with his or her bare hands as the user pushes the cart. Studies have shown that shopping carts, including the shopping cart handle, harbor more bacteria than public toilets due to the presence of bodily fluids and poultry and meat drippings. Germs from users who are or have been sick and have used the cart may also contaminate the handle.
One of the solutions that have been used to remove potential contaminants from shopping carts includes periodical hosing of the shopping carts with pressurized water. However, pressurized water fails to adequately remove the contaminants from the carts. Another solution includes periodically wiping the handle of the shopping cart with a rag or disposable wipe. This method, however, is seldom used and when it is used it tends to merely push the bacteria along the handle and activate the growth of new bacteria, rather than remove the bacteria from the handle.
Therefore, a shopping cart handle cover which can be placed over a handle on a shopping cart to prevent contamination of a user's hands as the user grips the shopping cart handle through the cover is needed.